“Invisible Boy is told with a vibrancy unique to the author. Mooney’s generosity of spirit, his sense of humour and capacity to transcend the self creates a book that is as riveting as it is incendiary.” — Jackie Wong, The Tyee
A narrative that amplifies a voice rarely heard — the child at the centre of a transracial adoption — and a searing account of being raised by religious fundamentalists.
Inspired by Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man and James Baldwin’s Go Tell it on the Mountain, Harrison Mooney’s debut memoir will captivate readers with his powerful gift for storytelling, his keen eye for insight and observation, and his wry sense of humour.
Adopted at birth to a Bible belt family at war with the devil, homeschooled and trapped in a house on a hill, young Harrison is raised amid a swirl of conflicting and confusing messages and beliefs. Within that radical and racist right-wing bubble, he grows up desperate to belong, and to be seen by those around him.
Adolescence and adulthood bring new challenges, as Harrison must first come to grips with the fact that the forces at work in his life are not supernatural, but the same trauma and systemic violence that has terrorized Black families for generations. Armed with the truth, at long last, the young adoptee forges his own path to freedom, reconnecting with his birth mother and, ultimately, himself.
Throughout this most timely tale of race, religion and displacement, the author’s wry, evocative prose renders his deeply personal tale of identity accessible and light, giving us a Black coming-of-age narrative set in a world with little love for Black children.
